Fluid control apparatus



United States Patet O 3,543,309 FLUID CONTROL APPARATUS Clair W. Boone, P.O. Box 706, Merritt, British Columbia, Canada Filed Feb. 3, 1969, Ser. No. 795,944 Int. Cl. E03d 1/22 US. Cl. 4--35 8 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention relates generally to fluid control apparatus suitable for use on a variety of installations where agiven quantity of liquid must be accumulated and maintained or later dumped but more particularly the apparatus is intended for use on a toilet tank.

The water level in most toilet tanks is controlled by a ball-cock valve or the like having an operating lever fitted at the free end with a float. Such a valve serves the purpose but a mechanically operated valve of this type has a number of disadvantages and included amongst these is the need for frequent maintenance and the noise factor which is objected to by so many people. Also, in some instances, it is desirable to be able to vary the volume of water which is allowed into the tank and this is diflicult to do when conventional mechanically operated valves are employed.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION To overcome these as well as other disadvantages of equipment presently in use, I provide apparatus which operates on a hydrostatic principle so that there is no need for mechanical joints, linkage, weights and balances of the type found in so many plumbing installations and which sometimes malfunction. The present apparatus is operated by the pressure of the supply water and the pressure developed by a body of water within the tank. These two forces are balanced in such a way as to provide complete and precise control over the water supply to the tank. An important feature of the apparatus is that it is extremely silent in operation and another advantage is that it has few operating parts likely to require any amount of maintenance. The simply and economically constructed apparatus is designed to fit any standard toilet tank and can be readily adjusted to vary the pressure and quantity of water which will cause the device to operate.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a front elevation of a flush toilet fitted with the present invention,

FIG. 2 is an enlarged vertical section of the fluid control apparatus,

FIG. 3 is a section taken on the line 33 of FIG. 2, and,

FIG. 4 is a schematic view showing another embodiment of the invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring to FIG. 1, the numeral 10 indicates a typical household toilet having a reservoir tank 11 which is mounted above a bowl 12. The bottom wall 14 of the tank has an outlet 15 which connects with the bowl 12, see also detail in FIG. 2. A valve 16 is provided within the tank 11 to control the flow of water through the outlet 15. Valve 16 includes a housing 17 and a vertically standing pipe 18, the open upper end of this pipe extending above the normal water level in the tank. Valve 16 is connected by a chain 19 to an arm 20 which is adapted to be operated by an external lever 21. The bottom wall 14 of the tank has an inlet 23 which, in a conventional installation, is adapted to receive an end of a supply pipe 24 connected to the household water system. Thus, service water at a pressure of approximately 50 psi. can be delivered into the tank 11 and can be discharged from the tank into the bowl by actuation of the level 21. Normally, the filling of the tank 11 is controlled by means of a ballcock valve, not shown, and it is such a valve which is replaced by the present invention.

The fluid control apparatus generally indicated by the numeral 26 comprises a supply valve 27 which I prefer to mount on the bottom wall 14 of the tank, as shown best in FIG. 2. To mount the valve 27 in this position, the tubular body 28 of the supply valve is provided with an outer flange 30 which rests on the top face of the bottom wall 14 with a portion of the tubular body projecting through the inlet 23. A sealing gasket 31 is provided beneath the flange 30 and a nut 32 is threaded onto the downwardly projecting end of the valve body to a clamp and seal the valve body 28 in the desired position. The supply pipe 24 is connected to the lower end of the valve body 28 by a slip joint nut 34.

Above the flange 30, a block 35 is suitably secured within bore 36 of the valve body 28 and a central threaded opening 37 is formed in this block. A plug 38 having an orifice 39 is threaded into the opening 37 to stand above the block 35 and the upper end of this plug is provided with a valve seat 40. The valve body 28 has an outlet pipe 42 which connects the bore 36 and orifice 39 with the interior of the tank 11. An external flange 45 on the upper end of the pipe-like valve body 28 is recessed as at 46 to accommodate the beaded rim 47 of a valve disc 48, the valve disc extending across and closing off the bore 36. This valve disc 48 is formed preferably of a suitable flexible material and when said disc is held in engagement with the seat 40, water is stopped from flowing from the supply pipe 24 into the tank 11 or in other words, the supply valve 27 is closed. The inverted U-shaped upper end 42A of the outlet pipe 42 is fitted with a tube 49 which extends into the open upper end of the standing pipe 18. Lower end 42B of the outlet pipe 42 is disposed a short distance above the bottom wall 14. It will be noted that the shape of the pipe 42 prevents the water in the tank 11 from siphoning back into the supply pipe 24 should the disk 41 become stuck in the open position by dirt on the seat 40. Should such sticking occur, air is supplied to pipe 42 by tube 49 to break the siphoning action.

Apparatus 26 includes a container 50 which may be supported by the supply valve 27 so as to stand clear of the sidewalls of the tank 11. Container 50 has a lower and closure 51, a peripheral wall 52 which may be cylindrical, and an open upper end 53. Bolts extend through the flange 45 into the closure 51 to secure the container to the supply valve 27 and also to clamp the valve disc 48 between the aforementioned parts. The peripheral wall 52 preferably is made up of an upper portion 52A and a lower portion 52B. The abutting edges of these two portions are provided with external flanges 54 and these flanges are connected together by a two part clamping band '56, the ends of which band are secured together by bolts 57 and nuts 58, see FIG. 3.

The two part construction of the wall 52 provides a convenient means of supporting a diaphragm 60 so that it extends across the container 50 a short distance above the lower closure 51. The beaded rim 61 of the circular diaphragm 60 is lodged in complementary grooves 62 formed in the abutting faces of the flanges 54. Thus, the diaphragm 60 is clamped and sealed in the desired position and the container 50 is divided by the diaphragm into a large upper chamber 65 and a small lower chamber On the underside of the diaphragm 60, there is provided a disc 68 which is secured to said diaphragm by a centrally disposed pin 70. Disc 68 is only slightly smaller in diameter than the diaphragm 60 and is formed of a material which has less flexibility than the diaphragm. The disc 68 retains the diaphragm in a horizontal plane and allows the diaphragm to be deflected downwardly only in the vicinity of the wall 52, the deflection taking place around an annular band indicated by the numeral 72 (FIGS. 2 and 3) and defined between the rim of the circular disc and the inner surface of the peripheral wall of the container. Disc 68 prevents the diaphragm 60 from sagging near the center thereof and ensures that a downward pressure exerted on said diaphragm will cause it to deflect evenly over a greater portion of its area.

The diaphragm 60 is adapted to be deflected downwardly to close the valve 27 and for this purpose the diaphragm and valve are interconnected by operating means generally indicated at 75. As shown in FIG. 2, means 75 comprises a vertically disposed plunger 76 which is slidably mounted in an opening 77 formed in the end closure 51. Plunger 76 rests on the valve disc 48 and projects a short distance above the closure '51. A lever 79 is connected at one end to the container by a pivot pin 80 and the opposite end of this lever is pivotally connected as at 81 to the lower end of the pin 70. Lever 79 engages the top of the plunger 76 so that when the diaphragm is moved a suflicient distance towards the closure 51, the lever depresses the plunger and clamps the valve disc 48 into sealing engagement with the valve seat 40.

Apparatus 26 includes means generally indicated at 84 for applying a selected amount of deflection to the diaphragm 60. In FIG. 2, and 3, the means 84 will be seen to comprise a horizontal bracket 85 which projects inwardly from the wall 52 a suitable distance below the open end 53 of the container. The inner end of the bracket 85 supports a nut 86 and a suitably threaded rod 87 extends through this nut. This vertically disposed and centrally located adjusting rod 87 has a rounded lower end 88 which bears on the enlarged head 89 of the pin 70. By manually adjusting the position of the rod 87, the diaphragm 60 can be moved a selected distance towards the closure 51. Movement of the diaphragm 60 in this direction is transmitted by the lever 79 and plunger 76 to the valve disc 48. Thus, it is possible to control the distance the disc 48 will be moved off the seat 40 by water pressure and the reason for this will be explained later.

In order to allow the diaphragm 60 to move freely towards and away from the closure 51, the container 50 is fitted with a breathing tube 90 which can be secured to the side wall 52 by a bracket 91. The lower end 92 of the breathing tube projects through a sealed opening 93 extending into the chamber 66. The upper end 94 of the vertically standing tube 90 is disposed well above the highest point water is likely to reach in the tank 11. Tube 90 operates in the well-known manner to allow air to evacuate from the chamber 66 when the diaphragm 60 is moved downwardly and to recharge said lower chamber with air when the diaphragm later moves upwardly.

The apparatus 26 is provided with a discharge valve generally indicated at 96. Valve 96 is adapted to control the flow of water through a port 97 which has an inclined valve seat 98 on the outer end thereof. A flap 101 is secured to the wall 52 by a hinge pin 102 and this flap is fitted with a semi-spherical valve disc 103 which normally engages the seat 98. A sail 104 is secured to the lower end of the flap 101. When the level of water in the tank 11 is above the port 97, and a weight of water bears downwardly on the flap 101 and particularly on the sail 104, said flap is held against the container and the valve disc 103 is pressed against the seat 98 whereupon the discharge valve 96 remains closed. At times the water within the container 50 will be higher than the level within the tank and at such times the pressure differential resulting from this difference in water level will cause valve 96 to open.

Assuming that the toilet 10 has just been flushed and the tank 11 has been drained, refilling takes place automatically with the present invention. The pressure of water within the supply pipe 24 forces the valve disc 48 off the seat 40 whereupon water discharges through the outlet pipe 42 to fill the tank. At the same time, a smaller amount of water is fed through the tube 49 and pipe 18 to the housing 17 to initiate the flushing action in same manner as a conventionaltoilet. Supply valve 27 is now fully open and as the water level climbs above the port 97, the discharge valve 96 is 'held shut and the tank continues to fill until water reaches the upper end 53 of the container. The tank water then overflows into the chamber 65 of the container and the level therein rises until a column of volume of water has accumulated in said chamber.

The weight of this column of volume of water within the chamber 65, pressing on the diaphragm 60, will deflect this member downwardly so as to cause corresponding movement of the lever 79 and the plunger 76. Pressure thus exerted on the diaphragm and transmitted by the operating means 75 to the valve disc 48 overcomes the pressure of the household supply water and closes the supply valve 27 to bring the refilling cycle to a halt.

It will be noted that the water entering the tank 11 through the supply valve 27 can be very precisely controlled by the means 84 which allows the gap between the valve seat 40 and the valve disc 48 to be adjusted as required. By suitable adjustment of the rod 87, the disc 48 is prevented from moving too far off the seat 40. Thus, water cannot rush through the valve 27 and cause an undesirable amount of noise as is common with so many conventional valves. At the same time, care is taken not to unduly restrict the gap between the valve seat 40 and the valve disc 48 since this too will cause unwanted noise. Also it should be noted that valve 27 opens fully once it is allowed to open and is not opened gradually as in other valves to cause objectionable noise.

When the toilet is fiushed by actuation of the lever 21, water discharges from the tank 11 through the outlet 15. As the tank drains and the water level therein approaches the valve 96, the pressure of water within the container 50 becomes greater than the closing pressure on the flap 101 and sail 104 and, as the result, said discharge valve is swung open to allow the chamber 65 Water to flow through the port 97 and add itself to the water being discharged from the tank. Once the column of water within the container 50 and the contents of the tank 11 are discharged through the outlet 15 into the bowl 12, the discharge valve 96 again closes and the diaphgram 60 returns to a substantially horizontal position which allows the supply valve 27 to re-open as well. Water under constant pressure is present within the valve body 28 to force the valve disc 48 off the seat 40 whereby to refill the tank and complete the flushing and refilling cycle.

Preferably, the operating means 75 includes the plunger 76 and the lever 79 since this arrangement provides a mechanical advantage which enables a relatively small valve disc 48 to be used to control high pressure water in response to quite a small movement of the diaphragm 60. However, in some installations it might be possible to use a considerably larger disc for the supply valve 27 in which case the plunger 76 and lever 79 could be dispensed with entirely and an elongated pin 70 would serve to close an enlarged supply valve disc. The elongated pin would extend through a suitable opening in the closure 51 similar to opening 77 to engage the enlarged supply valve disc which close a proportionately smaller orifice in the plug 38. Such an arrangement would operate effectively to close the supply valve disc against the pressure of the supply water.

In the modification shown schematically in FIG. 4, a slightly modified form of the apparatus is indicated generally by the numeral 110. Apparatus 110 is identical to the preferred form of the present apparatus except that it has no discharge valve 96 and, if desired, the container 50 can be shortened. Such a modified apparatus is shown mounted in a tank 111 which is supplied with water through a pipe 112 and from which water is drawn off through a pipe 114. Assuming that sufficient water is drawn from the tank 111 to lower the level to the line indicated at A, then the apparatus 110 will function to open supply valve 27 and raise the water level to say, the line indicated at B. The additional weight of the water between lines A and B, will serve to deflect the diaphragm 60 downwardly so as to close the supply valve 27. Thus, the apparatus 110 will effectively operate to maintain a required amount of water within the tank 111 which is not periodically drained as is a toilet tank but is merely used as a normal reservoir tank or the like.

From the foregoing, it will be apparent I have provided a simple and effective means of controlling the refilling of the toilet tank to a level determined by the height of the container 50. The supply valve 27 is fully opened by the supply water pressure and as a result there is not the usual squealing and whistling sounds which usually occur when a valve is only partly opened. Discharge valve 96 also opens and closes silently and except for the very muted sounds of flowing water, the apparatus otherwise is completely silent in operation. Both the lever 79 and plunger 76 will function indefinitely without the need for servicing. It is possible the diaphragm 60 and valve disc 48 may eventually have to be replaced but the construction of the apparatus is such that it can be easily dismantled to replace those parts. Thus, the quitely operating fluid control apparatus requires very little servicing during many years of continual use.

I claim:

1. A fluid control apparatus for a tank having an inlet connected to a source of fluid under pressure and an outlet, comprising a supply valve for admitting fluid through the inlet into the tank, a container within the tank, a diaphragm extending across the container, operating means connecting the diaphragm to the supply valve whereby the weight of a predetermined volume of water accumulated in the tank above the diaphragm will deflect said diaphragm downwardly and close said supply valve.

2. Fluid control apparatus for a tank having a normally closed outlet and an inlet connected to a source of fluid under pressure, comprising a supply valve for admitting fluid through the inlet into the tank, a container within the tank, a diaphragm extending across a lower part of the container, operating means connecting the diaphragm to the supply valve whereby a column of fluid overflowing into the container from the tank will deflect said dia phragm and close said supply valve, and a discharge valve operating automatically to drain the column of fluid from the container as the tank is being emptied through the outlet.

3. Fluid control apparatus as claimed in claim 2, and including manually operable means for applying a selected amount of deflection to the diaphragm whereby to control the operation of the supply valve.

4. Fluid control apparatus for a tank having a normally closed outlet and an inlet connected to a source of fluid under pressure, comprising a supply valve for admitting fluid through the inlet into the tank, a container within the tank having a peripheral wall and a lower end closure, a diaphragm extending across the container near the lower end closure, operating means extending through the lower end closure and connecting the diaphragm to the supply valve whereby a column volume of fluid overflowing into the container from the tank will deflect said diaphragm and close said supply valve, a discharge valve for the container above and adjacent to the diaphragm, said discharge valve normally being held shut by the Weight; of the fluid within the tank.

5. Fluid pressure apparatus as claimed in claim 4, in which said supply valve comprises a valve seat and a valve disc normally urged off the valve seat by fluid pres sure, said operating means including a plunger slidably mounted in the end closure in engagement with said valve disc, and a lever pivotally connected to the container and the diaphragm to bear upon the plunger.

6. Fluid control apparatus for a tank having a nor.- mally closed outlet and an inlet connected to a source of fluid under pressure, comprising a supply valve for admitting fluid through the inlet into the tank, said supply valve including a valve seat and a valve disc normally urged off said valve seat by fluid pressure, a container within the tank having a peripheral Wall and a lower end closure above the supply valve, a diaphragm extending across the container near the lower end closure, a plunger slidably mounted in the lower end closure in contact with the valve disc, a lever pivotally connecting the diaphragm to a part of the container and bearing upon the plunger, said diaphragm being deflected downwardly in response to the weight of fluid overflowing into the container from the tank whereby to actuate the lever and plunger and move the valve disc on to the valve seat, said peripheral wall having an outlet port in close proximity to the diaphragm, a discharge valve associated with the outlet port and normally being closed by the weight of fluid within the tank, said discharge valve opening automatically when the fluid level within the tank is lower than the fluid level within the container.

7. Fluid control apparatus as claimed in claim 6, and including a vertically adjustable rod mounted within the container above the diaphragm to permit said diaphragm to be selectively deflected towards the lower end closure.

8. Fluid control apparatus as claimed in claim 7, and including a reinforcing disc secured to the diaphragm to confine deflection to an annular band adjacent the peripheral wall of the container.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 354,133 12/1886 Hamman 4-40 485,155 10/1892 Herdegen 4-35 2,760,204 8/1956 Joanis 4-4l 3,344,439 10/1967 Davies 435 XR 3,431,564 3/1969 Davies 4-40 Re.26,631 7/1969 Abbott 441 XR LAVERNE D. GEIGER, Primary Examiner H. K. ARTIS, Assistant Examiner US. Cl. X.R. 441 

